Aertheca
Aertheca is a persistent world featuring the seven standard playable races, each with a region they govern. The module being used is a completely new replacement for an earlier one known as "Hybrid LotR". Where the old world of Hybrid LotR was short on roleplay, strong on PvP, and permitted extreme empowerment of PCs through (for example) armor, weapons, and crafting, the new world of Aertheca carefully keeps the strength of allowed gear limited and maintains an unusually high level of roleplay. Setting Aertheca consists of three continents surrounding a mysterious island. It is a vast and diverse world. Between the majestic mountains of ice and snow on Chalea and Kryth, the evergreen forests and crystal lakes of Lui'ninque, the scorching deserts of Shirzax, and the rich plateau of Mendor, there is much to see and untold riches to discover. In the center of it all is the magical and mysterious island of Aertharon, known to many as the Domain of Armageddon. No one knows how this island came into existence, though some say it is the birth place of the gods themselves. These days only brave and foolhardy adventurers risk travelling to the island looking for long-lost treasures, many never to return. Those lucky enough to survive the journey speak of great fortunes, mysterious ruins and of fearsome guardians who dwell there. If the gods shine upon an adventurer in this most magical of places, that adventurer may truly stake a claim to be one of the greatest heroes to have ever lived upon Aertheca. Background Aertheca has a long and colorful past. Of late, the Dragon Wars have come to an end and a time of relative calm has settled across the lands. The once proud kingdoms have dissolved into separate cities, each struggling to hold the warlords of the wild at bay and to keep what lands they held at the close of the great war. Most lore and magic has been lost, though in time, a new generation of adventures and seekers of knowledge may uncover what was lost or gain insight into even more powerful magic. Three Houses have arisen from the ashes of the Dragon Wars, and they now begin to cast their eyes out with dreams of expansion. These Houses have not gone unnoticed by the city-states, who cling to memories of what once was. It is a time of both great opportunity and danger for the dreamers and brave travelers who would dare to roam the wild lands of Aertheca in search of fame and fortune. Server design The design of the Aertheca holds that individual PCs should be unable to overcome the top boss monsters unaided, and that a group effort is absolutely required to face the strongest boss monsters and survive. In addition, the server has devoted much effort towards balancing individual classes, which in practice means severely curtailing the most powerful classes such as sorcerors, wizards, and to some extent clerics. A few examples follow. *Isaac's greater missile storm has been reduced to 10 missiles. *The Bigby spells are all subject to saving throws. *The black blade of disaster now takes damage. *Mestil's acid sheath, elemental shield, and death armor do not stack. *There are timers on spells such as implosion and greater sanctuary. *True seeing has been modified to merely add a bonus to spot and listen skills. Certain common restrictions have been put in place, such as disabling the devastating critical feat. The Aertheca module is very large, and many areas contain something of value (e.g. crafting resources), making it a giant easter-egg hunt server. Features *CEP and custom content. *New 1.67 and 1.69 BioWare content (including new tilesets). *Over 1000 areas. *Rideable horses. *Player-controlled factions with claimable cities. *Hundreds of unique quests. *Random dynamic loot system. *Unique, custom made crafting system. *16 different dragon disciple types to choose from, each with their own wing colors and other properties. *Unique subraces. *Customized spells. *Fast dedicated server host with plenty of bandwidth. *Realistic resting system. *Armor and weapon crafting is free and always successful. *Some classes have been modified. Notes *Aertheca requires NWN version 1.69. *Haks must be downloaded from the server's website before playing. *Aertheca is listed under 'Role Play' in GameSpy. Maximum concurrent players is set to 50. *Direct connect IP: aertheca.no-ip.org:5121 Critique While the development team welcomes ideas from the player base, actual development is performed only by the team. Currently, there are signs that this policy is adversely affecting module maintenance. Most posts in the server's bug-reporting forum (which requires a login to view) have no replies from the developers indicating whether or not the bug is (or will be) fixed. This could be seen as another symptom of the widespread dearth of communication from the development team to the player base, but there is at least one sign that bugs are not being fixed — Aertheca's banking system does not (or did not) work reliably, yet the topic on this bug has resided in the server's "Fixed Bugs" forum. (Posts by players from 6 November 2006 to 9 April 2007 indicate that throughout this time period, the topic was in the "Fixed Bugs" forum despite the bug not being fixed.) http://www.aertheca.com/index.php?topic=790.0 (Login required to view this topic.) Other signs of the deficiencies in maintenance are the low likelihood that certain bugs with horses will be fixed (because these bugs only affect some players), and the occurrence of broken transitions resulting from area removal. (These broken transitions need to be reported by players in the server's forum before being fixed). On the positive side, Aertheca maintains a large player base of role-players. External links *Aertheca Website and Forum *Aertheca on nwvault *Aertheca Wiki Category:Gameworlds